Tuesday’s Tip – Quote of the Day

Today’s Tuesday’s Tip is linked to today’s Quote of the Day which is in the little widget on the right of this page.

“To speed your success, twice a day form a clear mental picture for two minutes of the one thing you want; and tell yourself it's already yours. Imagine it is.”

I think it’s a wonderful quote and very suitable to my blog, because this is how you should start every organising project. Visualise exactly how you want your space to look. Where would you like what to be, how would you like your space to be organised. Then think what the first step is to get to that point. Take this step. Then the next, and so on.

And with small steps even the largest project will be achieved.

Preparing to Sell Your Property

Despite the media repeating nothing but doom and gloom messages, the economy is actually starting to turn upwards again and there are signs everywhere of houses starting to sell again. More and more For Sale boards are going up, solicitors are getting busier – it’s looking up, folks!

With all that in mind, you might be thinking about selling your property. And with another May Bank Holiday just around the corner, why not start getting your house prepared for selling. We have all watched House Doctor and have seen what a difference it makes to show your house off at its best. And that means it needs to look and feel spacious providing enough storage for your belongings.

So why not use the Bank Holiday weekend for just that, a good sort out, rearranging and reorganising, maybe some gardening to get everything into good shape. It’ll also make things easier once you get to moving yourself since you will have a lot less clutter to move if you do a good sort out beforehand. You might even get as far as using your garage for the purpose it was intending, (keeping your car safe), rather than a junk storage container.

Here are some tips to get you started:

• Walk through the house with buyers eyes and a piece of paper (maybe even a clipboard). Starting at the front door, go through the house room by room making notes of what needs improving. This way you have the start of a project plan.
  
• Don't get more overwhelmed.
  This might happen at the thought of decluttering your old home, so you end up procrastinating and not doing anything about it.
  You may already be overwhelmed with your clutter. Don’t increase this by thinking you have to get rid of it all in one day.
  Pick one project for each of the weekend days, a project you are sure you can complete. Before you know it, you should begin to see your table surfaces, floor space and begin to make your make your house sellable.
  
• If you have a team, use it. 
  If there are other people in your home besides you, every person in your household should be responsible for certain parts of the project.
  Split up tasks between you and your spouse. If you have kids, give them tasks and insist they do those to contribute to the family goal. 
  It's amazing how much time could be saved when good teamwork is put in action. If necessary, hire outside help, or ask a relative or neighbour to assist.
  
• Work expands to fit the time allotted. 
  Never schedule your time according to how much time you have available. Instead, schedule your time according to how long a particular project or task should actually take. Just because you have 3 hours, doesn't mean it should take you three hours to do something that should only take an hour or so. You'll get a lot more done if your deadlines are set properly.
  
• Give yourself a plan.
  How much will you accomplish, and how well will you accomplish it all, without a plan? Make sure that you don’t jump from one thing to the next with absolutely no plan. You'll end the day both exhausted and unfulfilled, and most likely you'll have a bunch of unfinished projects.
  Instead, give yourself a written plan. Make a To Do list each evening for the next day. Follow it closely throughout the day. Cross things off as you finish them.
  At the end of each day, look at all the things you crossed off your list and rejoice in everything you have accomplished--then relax and enjoy your evenings!
  
• If the weather is particularly fine, a project might include some gardening. Get rid of those weeds, do some trimming of overgrown shrubs, maybe even plant some annuals in the front garden to improve the “curb appeal”.

At the end of the weekend, your house might not be ready for viewers just yet, but you will have made a huge step in the right direction. Just make sure that you keep up what you have achieved to this point so when the next free weekend comes around, you don’t have to start all over again.

Tuesday’s Tip - The Many Uses of Baking Soda

Last week we talked about white vinegar. This age old versatile ingredient led me to another one – Baking Soda. It’s just as versatile as vinegar, a lot kinder to the environment than many modern harsh chemicals and just as effective. And it’s a lot cheaper, too.

Here are some applications for this useful products:

• Deodorize your fridge and freezer by putting in an open container of baking soda to absorb odours. Stir and turn over the soda from time to time. Replace every 2 months.
• To remove stubborn stains from marble, formica or plastic surfaces, scour with a paste of soda and water.
• Polish silverware with dry soda on a damp cloth. Rub, rinse and dry.
• To relieve sunburn: use a paste of baking soda and water.

For around 60 of these useful tips visit Belly Bites.

Tips for Sorting your Wardrobe

If you are intending to sort out your wardrobe, here are some tips on how to get started.

What to purge

Should your wardrobe be bursting at the seams you probably have too much stuff. But how do you decide what to keep and what to get rid of. Here are some guidelines. Get rid of it if:

• it’s damaged or soiled beyond help
• it doesn’t fit
• it’s no longer your style

Donate or recycle

Decide on a charity you would like to bless with your unwanted clothes. Pass them on to friends or family if you feel comfortable to do so. Do this only with the clothes that no longer fit or are not your style anymore. Find a rag recycling place for damaged and soiled clothing.

Storing what you’re keeping

For the purposes of reorganising your wardrobe, separate out between different items of clothing, such as skirts, trousers, shirts, jackets, etc. This will make getting dressed in the morning so much easier.

Good Clothes Maintenance

Do not store furs, suede or leather in plastic. These items need to “breathe” and should be placed in cloth coverings or cloth zippered clothing bags.

Do not use wire hangers for your clothing. Apart from being unsightly, they do no favours to the shoulder area of blouses and shirts, use plastic hangers instead. For trousers and skirts use clip hangers, as they eliminate creasing. Do not jam pack your wardrobe as this also increases wrinkles in your clothes.

Accessories

Store accessories in boxes. Use decorative boxes, such as hat boxes. Belt and tie racks are good. Just keep them simple and easily accessible.

Archive Storage

Keep your special occasion wear, such as party wear, wedding outfits, fancy dress, etc. away from your main wardrobe. Use another wardrobe if you have one or keep the items in containers on a shelf or under your bed.

Items that are out of season should also be kept away from your daily clothes storage. This gives you more space in your wardrobe and will reduce stress (less creased clothes, better overview of what you own).

How to keep it all up

Use the “one in – one out” rule. Whenever you buy a new item, get rid of an existing one. Don’t just buy something because it is on sale. Resist bargains since they are only worth getting if you would have bought the item at full price as well. Otherwise don’t bother.

Use change of seasons to purge items. Whatever you haven’t worn all season, get rid of it. Chances are more than high that you will never wear it again, so why let it use up valuable storage space.

If you have trouble deciding what to keep, ask a friend to help you decide. This should be a friend who is up to date on fashions and will not allow you to keep something that is out of style just because you paid a lot of money for it! Now go see what’s lurking in your wardrobe!

Tuesday’s Tip – The Many Uses of White Vinegar

After seeing White Vinegar being used on a few TV programme for all sorts of weird and wonderful purposes I decided to do a little research. And low and behold, I came across not just dozens but actually hundreds of uses for this amazing liquid.

Here are a few of them:

Gardening: Kill weeds and grass growing in unwanted places by pouring full strength white vinegar in cracks and crevices of paths and driveways.

Cleaning: Clean and deodorise a drain by pouring one cup of baking soda (another amazing multi purpose product) and 1/2 cup of hot white vinegar down the drain. Let this soak for 5 minutes, then run hot water afterwards.

Laundry: To remove soap residue that makes black clothes look dull use white vinegar in the final rinse.

Health: Stop insect bites and stings from itching by dabbing them with a cotton ball saturated with white vinegar.

Automotive: Remove the hazy film that builds up on the inside of car windows by spraying with white vinegar.

Pets: Prevent your cat from eating your house plants by spraying the leaves with a solution of white vinegar and water.

Find these tips and many more on www.vinegartips.com .

Or visit the Vinegar Institute.

Bank Holiday Decluttering – Part 2

And we’re back with our big project for the Bank Holiday weekend. Here is the second lot of top tips for a successful decluttering session.

You’ve done all the getting rid of things, what are the next steps:

Reorganise: Put like things together. This means if you look for a particular item it can only be in one place. No more hunting around.

Containerise: Once you know exactly what you keep, you can move on to a great part of the job and find suitable storage containers. Use these as much as possible, they really help to corral your belongings and make putting things away so much easier. And make sure you label the containers once you have decided what goes in. This will save you lots of time later looking for things in your new system.

Reward: Make sure you plan a nice reward for the end of your project. If it’s just you doing the work, then have a nice bubble bath, if the whole family is involved, maybe a trip to the park or to the cinema. I’m sure you can think of a suitable reward. You deserve it.

Maintenance: So that the whole effort wasn’t in vain, you need to maintain the new order. Simply stick with what mums have told us for generations. “Put it back when you’re finished with it.” You don’t want to have to start over in the same area once the next Bank Holiday comes around.

And if after all that the whole thing is still too daunting for you, why not call in an expert to kick the project off. Here at Well Organised we can put you on the right track and start you off with a few hours of professional help or we can guide you through the whole project, whatever your needs.